We established screening centers in outpatient waiting areas of the public hospital serving inner-city residents, the city jail, clinics serving the homeless, and with outreach teams in neighborhoods frequented by drug users.

The major limitations of this community-based tuberculin screening and preventive therapy project were the low proportion of infected individuals who were eligible for isoniazid preventive therapy and the poor adherence with a complete regimen among those we intended to treat.

For community-based programs to be efficacious, preventive therapy regimens that are of shorter duration and safe for older persons will need to be implemented.